Jack Sherlock
Reporter
The university-partnered National Public Radio station, KISU, provides access to an array of informative channels for the Bengal community and surrounding areas to tune in to. Out of the twenty-two unique programs broadcasted, there is one program, in particular, that is confronting the ever-evolving challenges and subjects within the pillars of our state’s sustainability. In partnership with ISU’s Sustainability Club and the Portneuf Resource Council, KISU presents “Sustainable Idaho”, a program that seeks to provide insight into the roles of economy, society, and environment Idaho sustainability measures. In late March, the hosts of “Sustainable Idaho” Scott Greeves and Rachel McGovern, resurface a conservation issue regarding the Portneuf Aquifer, and what has happened below the visible surface of our community has brought forth means for investigation.
The Fort Hall Mine Landfill is located south of Pocatello near the Gap and has been in operations since 1943. The long-established landfill has provided waste management services to residents of Bannock County with a thoughtful mission in mind, to “dispose of items that might decompose and harm our aquifer” per Bannock County testimony. For those of you unfamiliar, an aquifer is a body of underground permeable rock that transmits groundwater. Greeves expands this into layman’s terms by saying “it’s possible to think of the Portneuf aquifer as an underground river.” This “underground river” and others like it across the country is where we as Americans source the water for an average of 37% of our daily operations, like brushing our teeth, flushing the toilet, running the tap, etc. according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Greeves goes on to explain the issues of contamination and how we would be affected by saying “Pocatello and Chubbuck are downstream of the point source pollution” — in other words, we are the direct recipients of any consequence that comes to tampering or contamination with the normal productive function of our county aquifer. Now, back to the functions of our aquifer here in Bannock County. We would like to assume those in the community have always had the citizens’ best interests in mind, but how falsely secure we are in that assumption. Back in the 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the Fort Hall Mine Landfill, this site was the home dumping grounds for some harmful chemicals of the day. The result of this dump? Chemicals burrowing and seeping their way into our groundwater source. To get more info on this incident, Greeves and McGovern probe David Goings’s mind, a Senior Hydrogeologist for the Department of Environmental Quality.
Goings has been at the forefront of the investigation into this issue and was able to explain the details of the incident as well as the after-effects of the choices made by dumpers in the 1940s.
Goings started the conversation with Greeves and McGovern by emphasizing that this was not necessarily new information to the general public. It has been known for decades that this landfill was a prominent dumping ground for large quantities of toxic solvents, specifically things like trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), and vinyl chloride. These harmful toxins were often dumped into what is called “Cell 1” of the landfill, and the direct consequence of dumping here has resulted in a contaminated aquifer, and it took until 1991 for it to be declared as such. Perhaps the most important and interesting part of reviewing this investigation is what was done about the contaminated groundwater source following its declaration of toxicity. The first attempt was made by Bannock County, and they partnered with the Department of Environmental Quality to develop a remediation strategy that involved something called an air stripper. The air stripper would essentially draw up water from the ground, remove the contaminants and then source the water back into the ground as a filtered and safe groundwater source. Unfortunately, Goings continues to explain that this approach did not work, and the initial research that was conducted to contextualize and identify the characteristics of the pollutants for their attempted removal was wrong to begin with — a faulty blueprint outlining the complex nature of these present toxins led researchers back to square one. Goings reassured listeners by stating that Bannock County and the Department of Environmental Quality is continuing its efforts into the present day and that researchers are developing new approaches to resolve the contamination issue and bring remedy to our groundwater system.
This is just scratching the surface of what is to come with our local aquifer and what we can expect from our county officials and researchers at the DEQ. Part 2 of this investigative report is on the KISU – “Sustainable Idaho” website, where you can tune in to hear Greeves and McGovern dive into a discussion with Dr. Tamzen MacBeth, who has been hired through CDM Smith, a private engineering and construction firm, to assist the county in resolving the ongoing issue with the Pocatello Aquifer contamination.
To drink or not to drink (the tap)? To stay informed of this developing story from KISU’s “Sustainable Idaho”, visit https://www.kisu.org/post/fort-hall-mine-landfill-groundwater-pollution-part-2
